JEFFERSON — From the moment she first was placed atop a horse at just one a week old, it was perhaps inevitable that Virginia Klecker would wind up being a true “horse person.”
She began riding before she even started school and became a member of the Jefferson County 4-H Horse and Pony Project as soon as she was old enough, in the third-grade.
On Saturday night at the Jefferson County Fair, Klecker topped off her career as an equestrian by being named Jefferson’s County’s 2019-20 Equine Ambassador.
A number of area communities can claim Klecker as a local. Residing in the the Town of Aztalan with a Jefferson/Johnson Creek address, she attends Lake Mills High School, where she will be a senior next year.
She is the daughter of Troye and Dawn Klecker. A member of the Rock Lake Troopers 4-H Club, she also served as president of her school’s FFA agribusiness club this past year.
On her family’s farm, she is fortunate to be able to share her life with seven horses, two dogs, a housecat and, of course, cattle.
Klecker’s interest in horses came naturally, as her mom is a dedicated trail rider, although her dad chooses to focus on the cattle her family raises.
On top of participating in the 4-H Horse and Pony Project, Klecker also does independent horse events, particularly “three-day-eventing.” This involves one day of dressage competition (relating to how the horse moves and how the owner presents the horse), one day of cross-country riding in which horses have to jump a number of natural obstacles, and one day of show-jumping in an arena.
The 2019-20 honoree said that the Horse and Pony Project has given her a lot of role models as she was growing up. She noted that she has numerous friends who were a couple of grades ahead of her in the Horse and Pony Project, and they set the bar high in terms of achievement.
“They left really big shoes for me to fill,” Klecker said. “Now it’s time for me to step up and serve as a role model for the younger kids who are coming up.”
In a way, she said, everyone in the Horse and Pony Project serves as a mentor of some type, as all have something to offer to help people improve their riding skills and their relationships with their horses.
It was a busy fair week for Klecker, who competed in several regular horse events as well as in the Equine Ambassador contest, which this year had two candidates.
Klecker said she didn’t know how things were going to wind up until the final day of competition, and she credited the other candidate, Sarah Williams, 17, of the Duck Creek 4-H Club, with doing a “really great job.”
Klecker said she decided to run for Equine Ambassador after seeing so many of her mentors in the Horse and Pony Project take on that leadership role.
As the 2019-20 Jefferson County Equine Ambassador, Klecker will be representing the Horse and Pony Project across the state for the next year. The ambassador helps to guide the project within, helping with scheduling, events, recruiting and educational aspects of the project, and promotes the horse and pony project all throughout the state.
Among her goals for the coming year, Klecker said, she hopes to attract new members, to promote the educational side of 4-H, and to increase the visibility of the Horse and Pony Project throughout the county and beyond.
Trying out for the Equine Ambassador title takes many months, with most candidates starting their preparation as soon as the previous year’s competition wraps up.
The competition begins with a written application covering the candidates’ backgrounds with horses and why they want to try for the position.
In March, candidates must give a speech before a county-wide Horse and Pony meeting. Later, they complete an interview and written test demonstrating their horse knowledge, from anatomy to care to horsemanship.
Volunteerism counts as well, as candidates are expected to take a leadership role in the county Horse and Pony Project.
Throughout the year, candidates take part in regular horse shows. But the crux of the Equine Ambassador competition takes place during fair week.
Thursday morning brought the showmanship competition, and the horsemanship competition took place on Saturday morning.
While “showmanship” involves the human walking on the ground, leading the horse, “horsemanship” involves riding the horse in a pattern to demonstrate its abilities and training.
“You design the pattern to showcase the horse’s skills, but you are judged on your riding skill,” Klecker said.
Late on Saturday came the official announcement of the new equine ambassador.
Klecker said as the announcement began, she was really nervous, and when she found out she won, it was such a rush of positive energy. She did feel bad for the other candidate though, Williams, whom she said had put in a really good effort.
As of Saturday night, Klecker took over the Ambassador crown from the 2018-19 honoree, Yaeggi.
Then Sunday morning she was off and running in her new role.
Along with assisting with the final day of horse judging at the fair, Yaeggi also is slated to represent Jefferson County Horse and Pony Project at several upcoming horse shows.
In the meantime, Klecker will be representing the project at the Wisconsin State Fair (where she has other entries), at the state Gymkhana and at the State Horse Expo.
Differentiating between the two latter events, Klecker said that the Gymkhana tests various skills such as barrel racing, pole bending and other timed events. Meanwhile, the Expo focuses on pleasure riding, equitation and showmanship.
Klecker said that the Horse and Pony Project is a tremendous organization in terms of educating young people and in bringing together people with common interests. She said participating in the project really has helped her develop her patience, responsibility, time management and perseverance.
It also has helped her develop a sense of perspective. In other words, even after months of preparation and training, anything can happen when dealing with a 1,000-pound animal with a mind of its own.
Klecker said that horses don’t figure into her future career plans — she hopes to attend the University of Kentucky to study anesthesiology — but horses and other animals always will be a big part of her life.
With all of the stresses of modern life, school and other expectations, working with animals provides such a tremendous release, and it builds up really rewarding bonds.
“A lot of times, I’d rather be with animals than other people,” she said.
She said she’s really excited to be able to represent what is possible with a strong human-horse bond. During her year as Equine Ambassador, Klecker said, she’d really like to build the project’s numbers back up so that more young people are exposed to the joy of working with horses.
She expressed gratitude to all of her coaches, especially Kim Turner, who helped Klecker and her horse achieve their potential in terms of showmanship and equitation.
Finally, she thanked her parents for all of the support they’ve shown over the years — including countless miles on the road, time spent, and equipment purchased, as well as the moral support and encouragement.